Goyle gave a demure nod of her head, keeping her expression carefully neutral. She’d won a major victory; there was no benefit in gloating over it. But as she made her way back down the stairs of the Petitioner’s Stage and headed toward the elevator that would take her back to the Presidium, a sly, self- satisfied smile crept across her lips.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The voice of the woman on the news vid never wavered or changed in tone as she reported the details of their latest lead story.
“In addition to the fine, the Alliance has agreed to voluntarily accept numerous trade sanctions as punishment for violation of the Citadel Conventions. The majority of these sanctions are in the fields of drive-core manufacturing and production of element zero. One economist warned energy prices back on Earth could jump by as much as twenty percent in the next — ”
Anderson flicked the vid off with the remote. “I thought it would be worse,” Kahlee said.
“Goyle’s a tough negotiator,” Anderson explained. “But I still think we got lucky.”
The two of them were sitting on the edge of a bed in a Hatre hotel room. Anderson was the one who had actually rented the room, charging it to the Alliance as part of his investigation. However, sharing a single room was nothing more than a necessity of their situation: he still hadn’t mentioned Kahlee to anyone back at Alliance HQ, and it would have raised suspicions if he’d requested another suite… or even a double bed.
“So what happens now?” Kahlee asked. “Where do we go from here?”
Anderson shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. Officially this has become Spectre business, but there’s still too many loose ends for the Alliance to just walk away.”
“Loose ends?”
“You, for one. We still don’t have any real proof that you aren’t a traitor. We need something to clear your name. And we still don’t know who the real traitor was, or where they’ve taken Dr. Qian.”
“Taken Dr. Qian? What do you mean?”
“The ambassador’s convinced Dr. Qian is still alive and being held prisoner somewhere,” Anderson explained. “She thinks he’s the whole reason the base was attacked. According to her, somebody wanted his knowledge and expertise, and they were willing to kill to get it.”
“That’s crazy,” Kahlee insisted. “What about the alien technology he found? That’s the real reason for the attack!”
“Nobody else knows about that yet,” Anderson reminded her. “Just me and you.” “I figured you would have passed that on,” she said, dropping her eyes.
“I wouldn’t do something like that without telling you first,” Anderson assured her. “If I gave them that kind of information, they’d want to know where I found it. I’d have to tell them about you. I don’t think we want to do that yet.”
“You really are looking out for me,” she whispered.
There was something strange about her subdued reaction, as if she was embarrassed or ashamed. “Kahlee? What’s going on?”
The young woman got up off the bed and walked to the other side of the room. She paused, took a deep breath, then turned back to face him. “I have to tell you something,” she said, her tone grim. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Ever since you told me about running into Saren back at Dah’tan.”
He didn’t say anything, but merely nodded at her to continue.
“When I first saw you at my father’s place I didn’t trust you. Even after you fought off that krogan I couldn’t be sure if it was because you really believed me, or if you were just trying to win me over so I’d tell you how much I knew about Sidon.”
Anderson almost opened his mouth to say she could trust him, then changed his mind. Better to let her work through this on her own.
“And then we went to Dah’tan and you ran into Saren and… I know what happened out there, David. Even what you didn’t tell me.”
“What are you talking about?” he protested. “I told you everything that happened!”
She shook her head. “Not everything. You said Saren thought about killing you, then changed his mind because he was afraid there might be witnesses. But you never bothered to tell him you came with someone else, did you?”
“I didn’t have to. He figured it out on his own.”
“But if he hadn’t figured it out, he would’ve killed you! You put your own life in danger rather than tell that Spectre I was nearby.”
“You’re reading too much into this,” Anderson said, shifting uncomfortably. “I just never thought to say anything until after he was gone.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Lieutenant,” she said with a faint smile. “Probably because you’re a good person.” “And so are you,” he assured her.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not really. I’m not a good person. Which must be why I’m such a good liar.”
“You’ve been lying to me?” In his head Anderson could hear the warning Saren had given him during their confrontation outside the ruins of Dah’tan. She’s lying to you. She knows much more about this than she’s told you.
“I know who the traitor at Sidon was. I have proof. And I know how we can find out who he’s working with.”
Anderson felt as if he’d been slapped across the face. He didn’t know what hurt more: the fact that
Kahlee had deceived him, or the fact that it was obvious to Saren long before he even had a clue. “Please,” she said, reading his pained expression. “You have to understand.”
“I understand,” he said softly. “You were just being smart. Careful.” And I was too blind and stupid to see what was really going on.
The divorce must have hit him harder than he’d realized. He’d been so desperate and lonely that he’d imagined some special connection between him and Sanders, when all they really had in common was a connection to an attack on an Alliance base. Sacrificing everything to be a better soldier had cost him his marriage. Now that his divorce was final, he’d let his personal feelings interfere with a military assignment. Cynthia would have laughed at the irony.
“I was going to tell you,” Kahlee insisted. “That first night. After you saved us from the krogan. Grissom warned me not to.”
“But you told him.”
A man you barely even know, Anderson thought, though he didn’t say anything out loud. Logically he understood why she’d done it, but that didn’t make it sting any less. She’d used him. She’d been playing him through the whole investigation, giving him little bits of information to keep him distracted so he wouldn’t realize the truth: she had the answers he was looking for all along.
Anderson took a long, slow breath and brought his emotions under control. There was no point in dwelling on this; it was over. Done. Thinking about how Kahlee had manipulated him wouldn’t get them any closer to completing the mission; it wouldn’t help avenge those who lost their lives at Sidon.
“So who’s the traitor?” he asked, his voice carefully neutral. “Dr. Qian. Isn’t it obvious?”
Anderson couldn’t believe it. “You’re saying one of the most respected and influential scientists in the
Alliance betrayed and helped murder his own handpicked team? Why?”
“I already told you! He was afraid they’d shut the project down. He must have known I was going to report him. The only way he could keep studying that alien technology he discovered was to destroy Sidon and pin the blame on me!”
“You really think he’d be willing to kill over this?” Anderson asked, still skeptical. “Over research?”
“I told you he was obsessed, remember? It had some hold on him. It changed him. He… he’s not in his right mind.”
She came over and dropped to one knee in front of him, her hands reaching out and clasping his.
“I know it’s hard for you to believe me after everything I kept from you. But Qian was unstable. That’s why I decided to report him,” she explained.